Crystal 'Kris''s Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

She went looking for the producers before breakfast, while the other contestants were still in their cabins. The tower wasn't going to fix itself, and pretending it wasn't her problem felt like the kind of choice that would catch up to her later. She found two of them in the lodge's monitoring room, screens flickering with empty cabin shots. They listened to her explain the tower — the measurements, the concrete failure, the timeline before the next storm — and then one of them leaned back in his chair and smiled. "Here's what we can do," he said. "Fix it yourself. Quietly. Three days, no cameras, and we'll make sure you get good airtime on the next build challenge." The other producer slid a key across the table. "There's a workbench by the north storage. Tools are in the cabinet. Or you file a formal complaint, we shut down production for an investigation, and you lose access to materials for the rest of the season." Kris picked up the key. She didn't trust their promise, but she trusted a failing tower even less. Outside, she hauled the workbench to the tower's base herself, the wooden legs scraping tracks through the snow. No one came to help. No one even looked.